FH! FIVE HIGH! Welcome to 'ODAAT... one day at a time'. Our new format brings you quality low-overhead daily web links: just like the finest fish & chips are always wrapped in newsprint; or go to our occasionalFAST FEATURE for a gourmet feast (dress code: "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Chardonnay").
2004.10.03 Taking The Mt. St. Helens Anxiety Cure
It is many years since we read the novel 'Under The Volcano' by Malcom Lowry (1909-1957) with its doom laden themes. We were reminded of these when we read this quotation from Margaret Mead, "Anxiety is the appropriate emotion when the immediate personal terror—of a volcano, an arrow, the sorcerer's spell, a stab in the back and other calamities, all directed against one's self—disappears." Perhaps a visit to Mt. St. Helens would have a stimulating effect to counteract such woes. We do recommend checking the VolcanoCam before departure: the purpose of your visit may have been preempted.

Many will remember the 1980 eruption, and possibly also the 'Time Magazine' cover photograph that won the photographer Roger Werth, and his colleagues on the Longview WA 'Daily News', a 1981 Pulitzer Prize. Some may also be grappling with their memories to recall the story of Harry Truman and his cats. Roger's recollections of his work at that time feature in an article at his alumni periodical 'Oregon Stater': a display quality picture eluded us.

The answer to what the volcano looked like before it blew over a thousand feet off its summit may be found on the KidsCosmos.org web site with before and after pictures, plus background information and links. Enquiring minds may enjoy the USGS [US Geological Survey page, and its accompanying facts sheet for 1980-2000 will appeal to the statistically inclined.

2004.10.02 Hoi Polloi Intrusion Into A Hoity Toity BashWe peeked, Dickensian style, through the Internet shutters, hoping to see some of the good things in life. The occasion was a Sotheby's art auction coupled with a malt whisky tasting at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland. For balance, we should say that Gleneagles does not sit amongst the wildest and grandest scenery in Scotland. That is available for free, if you are able to travel further north and west into the Highlands. If your passion is golf, you have likely heard of the famous Gleneagles course, and you may be content to venture no further than these rolling links.

Jon Allen, who went in person and in reality to report for the Malts.com web site, drew comparisons between three of the whiskies in the tasting and three works by artists represented in the sale. We thought Jon managed to carry off this potentially pretentious device, but you may judge for yourselves, at least on the art side of the comparison: Vettriano [1][2] Brora; Redbank [3][4] Rosebank; and Farquharson [5][6] Banff are configured for your viewing pleasure. As far as we know, a way to offer liquor sampling over the web has yet to be developed. If anyone would like Allen's judgments cross checked, we are able to make ourselves available…

2004.10.01-2 Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall, Who Is The Fairest?Our recent item, about people who take mirror pictures, has flushed out a number of aficionados of the art. Jenny Cockshull 'fessed up to her obsession when she went public at the MirrorProject.com, and made a full confession on her own web site. Torrid tabloids seem to succeed, so in a desperate attempt to lower the tone of this web site, an item on cross dressing is under consideration, though let us put the J. Edgar Hoover stories to rest once and for all: quirky story, no reliable evidence.

2004.10.01-1 The Magic Roundabout: An Exercise In English EccentricityAs a minimalist return to service, we will be posting at least one link every day. We hope to offer quality destinations, and later to introduce some way to gauge your responses to guide us in the popularity of our selections. We will have to play catch up for a couple of days, but we hope you enjoy today's links.

Visit virtual Swindon in the county of Wiltshire, England, for a whacky bit of contra flow thinking. The children's TV cartoon that gave its name to the traffic system is the subject of a web site of the same name, and the MagicRoundabout.com domain is available at the bargain asking price of $150,000.00 complete with broken links to a Tim Worthington article, available elsewhere in glorious bile green.

The Web Master Is All For TurningO public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you,You express me better than I can express myself.Walt Whitman (1819-1892), U.S. poet. 'Song of the Open Road' sct. 4 (1856)

Ian Scott-Parker writes: I have never before had a public. I had been monitoring the web server statistics, but numbers are not people. The announcement of the end of ODATT… in its existing form brought a considerable response by email.

Suddenly those unknowable digits became real individuals, thanking me for the pleasure I had given them, and regretting I had decided to stop. I now know how tempting it is to make one of those fawning speeches that make showbiz award ceremonies so embarrassing. On this occasion, with a suitably humble demeanor to counteract hubris, I am able to say with a clear conscience that like the miller the flour was all my own work, though other people grew the corn.

Something had to be done to reduce the workload. The month end overload has been fixed; the dreaded task now takes a couple of minutes. You should be unable to detect the changes, and that is as it should be. Service will resume tomorrow, albeit in a different format: if you sent an email notification request you will be informed directly. I hope you will continue to enjoy the web site.

Last Post, Or Taps If You Prefer, At Least For A WhileIt has become increasingly harder to keep to the schedule of a daily update. Looking at the 607 HTML files totaling 24Mb that had to be updated for a start to October was daunting. The system was bogged down rendering a DiVX movie file to MPEG2 for conversion to a DVD: when the progress bar showed sixteen hours still to go, we decided to call it a day for this ODAAT [One Day At A Time…] feature.

If you want to be advised of whatever happens next, hit the link to send an email (no requirements on subject or message content) to phoenix@pishtush.com for inclusion in our email list. You will receive a single email whenever something new happens. Your email address will never be used for any other purpose. Thanks just for visiting, and the encouragement if you are one of the people who made contact.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the archives and links, which are available from the pulldown menus in the page sidebar. Happy trails, until we meet again!